AdWords Ad Extensions

[UKSBD]

Are AdWords Ad Extensions switched on by default?

 

[Chelios]

They are all off by default as the majority need some form of setup.

The two that should appear without any input are seller rating extensions (stars, if the domain has the relevant reviews) and social extensions (if linked with company Google+). Previous visit tooltips are also displayed on a user by user basis.

 

[UKSBD]

I just set an ad up, and by default it was pulling in Call extensions from some of my Google+ Pages.

Problem is, it was pulling the phone number from the wrong pages

Had I not noticed, the ad would have displayed the wrong number.

I've filtered it now, but bad news that it was automatically set up that way.

 

[Chelios]

Odd - and its not any account level call or local extensions triggering it? I can't recall ever seeing this type of information pulled from a Google+ page and displayed in the social extension for the exact reasons you've found it annoying.

 

[UKSBD]

Odd - and its not any account level call or local extensions triggering it? I can't recall ever seeing this type of information pulled from a Google+ page and displayed in the social extension for the exact reasons you've found it annoying.

It's local extensions not social extensions - https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2404182?rd=1

I didn't initially set them up though, they were just set up automatically from my Google+ Pages.
Easy enough to filter, but only if you are aware that they are set up in the 1st place

 

[Chelios]

It's local extensions not social extensions

I didn't initially set them up though, they were just set up automatically from my Google+ Pages.
Easy enough to filter, but only if you are aware that they are set up in the 1st place

That makes more sense, these can be setup using Google My Business, but should still require you to physically add the Location extension to your AdWords account and should not trigger automatically with this.

 

[intelligentppc]

Did you set your account up using Adwords Express?

 

[emmawilliams]

account

Yes

 

[intelligentppc]

That's the problem then. By using Adwords Express you relinquish almost full control of your Ad campaigns to Google and I would strongly advise against this.

 

[UKSBD]

Did you set your account up using Adwords Express?

No, I didn't.
Is anyone that daft?

 

[intelligentppc]

No, I didn't.
Is anyone that daft?

Sadly lots

 

[directmarketingadvice]

I just set an ad up, and by default it was pulling in Call extensions from some of my Google+ Pages.

Google will do stuff like that.

And it's going to get worse. The direction they're going in, they want to choose your ad text, keywords, bids, budgets...

Be careful.

Steve

 

[intelligentppc]

Google will do stuff like that.

And it's going to get worse. The direction they're going in, they want to choose your ad text, keywords, bids, budgets...

Be careful.

Steve

I don't really understand Google's long-term strategy with Adwords, as they are going to eventually see a huge drop-off in small business advertisers. Small businesses and affiliates have been historically so important to them.

 

[UKSBD]

Google will do stuff like that.

And it's going to get worse. The direction they're going in, they want to choose your ad text, keywords, bids, budgets...

Be careful.

Steve

It's crazy.
The number and address they were displaying weren't even related to the ad.
They were from a completely separate business but in my same Google+ account.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

I don't really understand Google's long-term strategy with Adwords, as they are going to eventually see a huge drop-off in small business advertisers. Small businesses and affiliates have been historically so important to them.

I think a lot of it is Google's monopoly status. Google's gone from being a smart, customer focused company, to a dumb company that knows its customers have little choice.

So a lot of what they're doing is forcing low quality ad inventory onto advertisers. That was the real reason behind enhanced campaigns (to lump tablets in with computers). And that was the reason they forced "variants" onto advertisers.

As for small businesses, I think Google would love to offer a competent free automated alternative to PPC management. They're miles away from achieving that, but they've been trying a lot of things in that area. (e.g. Dynamic ads.)

What I don't understand is why this is likely to be a good idea in the long term. After all, if you're getting crappy inventory lumped in with your good traffic, you're going to lower bids. (Assuming you're trying to make a profit.)

So, ultimately, the market will still set the going rate for a click for a particular search.

Maybe Google knows better than I do? But, given all the evidence is that they have zero clue about direct marketing, it could be that they're been very short-sighted.

Just my 2p,

Steve

 

[directmarketingadvice]

It's crazy.
The number and address they were displaying weren't even related to the ad.
They were from a completely separate business but in my same Google+ account.

Google loves ad extensions because they push the organics down the page. So, if they can find info to populate some of those extensions, they're willing to do that... even if you've not asked them to.

It's all about what's good for Google.

I think that's a sucky attitude, but I guess they'd claim it helps more advertisers than it hurts.

Steve

 

[leveldisc]

I don't really understand Google's long-term strategy with Adwords

I can see AdWords evolving into 2 products - a sort of My Business/Google+/Adwords Express hybrid aimed at small businesses / small budgets / local services that's easy to set-up and an ecommerce/analytics/programmatic/advanced user hybrid aimed at bigger players. The former with zero barrier to entry, the later with some sort of qualifying standard.

I've haven't really thought it through

...they are going to eventually see a huge drop-off in small business advertisers. Small businesses and affiliates have been historically so important to them.

I think there are trying to address this. There is increasing noise around drumming up new business, Google partners and so on.

 

[leveldisc]

Google loves ad extensions because they push the organics down the page.

I think you're right for the wrong reasons.

What's good for google is users clicking relevant ads that solve the searchers problem.

So google loves ad extensions because they enhance the prospect of a good experience for the user. If ads provide a good experience, everyone wins.

Also, if Google was that cynical they would set the bar much lower for top of page ads. They don't just stick any old rubbish at the top of the page.

So I think the automated location/social extension nonsense will be ironed out soon enough.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

So google loves ad extensions because they enhance the prospect of a good experience for the user.

Do they? They almost never get clicked on. (Apart from phone numbers on mobile searches.)

So do searchers really want extensions on the first fold, rather than that space occupied by organics?

Steve